Olimpio Fusco

John Singer Sargent

National Gallery of Art

Drawn with tones of gray and black with charcoal on cream-white paper, a young man’s cleanshaven face floats near the top of the sheet. He faces and looks directly at us with his head tipped slightly back. His dark eyes are shaded under dark brows. His upper lip is full, and his mouth is closed in a set line. His thick, dark, slightly unruly hair sweeps back from his forehead, and he has a squared chin line. The lines indicating his neck fade where they would meet his shoulders. The work is inscribed with charcoal under the man’s head, near the bottom of the sheet: “Olimpio Fusco 63A Aspinlea Rd Hammersmith.”